Jai sought out Zayn immediately, finding the Dwarf Prince in the palace training grounds, venting his rage through a brutal, solitary spar against stone constructs. Jai waited until Zayn was exhausted, the ice and storm energy crackling around him.
"You think giving up here honors your people, Zayn?" Jai asked, his voice firm. "Your anger is justified, but walking away leaves the entire burden on your wounded father and the rest of us."
Zayn turned, his eyes still burning with resentment toward King Borin. "My father mocked me, Arthur! He cares only for his duty, not his sons. Zeron is not just a threat; he is a monster, and he's my responsibility."
"Then face your responsibility!" Jai countered, stepping closer. "Zeron made the threat personal: 'Tell my younger brother, Zayn.' He wants you to witness the destruction. If we kill him now, we save your kingdom and we save you from having to fight him later in front of the ruins of your people. We fight together. That is the only way."
The weight of the argument crushed Zayn's defiance. He lowered his staff, finally nodding. The brothers' pact was reaffirmed.
The requested artifacts arrived hours later: the Tier 7 Tide Weaver for Jai and the Tier 8 Tornado Breaker for James.
Jai immediately began the arduous process of refining the Tide Weaver. With his lineage granting him the ability to utilize artifacts up to Tier 7, the process was swift but intense. He felt the vast, fluid control of water magic integrate into his Spirit Core, ready to blend with his Sword.
James began testing the Tornado Breaker. Although the artifact was Tier 8, his Tier 9 Space and Air Magic provided more than enough control. He realized the artifact did not just summon storms; it commanded and compressed them, turning chaotic wind into focused, destructive energy.
Then jai saw Minister Brokk and ask :"You didn't leave Mr. Brokk" Then he replied :"Yes I understood that you are going to do something so i waited here to help for your revenge".
The four combatants—Jai, James, Zayn, and Minister Brokk—met for the final briefing.
The hum of the ship's ventilation was the only sound in the tense briefing room. James stood before the rest of the crew, his posture straight, the shadows playing across his grim face. In his hand, he held not a weapon, but a device of polished black obsidian, no larger than a child's palm.
"I took a risk," James announced, his voice low and gravelly, holding the attention of everyone present. "During the fight on Linston, I managed to plant a tiny tracer—an artifact, as we call it—on one of the Zeron members when they were escaping from the town people."
He placed the black stone on a small, hovering holographic projector on a member. With a flick of his wrist, the projector sprang to life, displaying a swirling, three-dimensional map of the surrounding star system, riddled with lines of flight paths and orbital data.
Then, a single, insistent point of red light blazed into existence on the far edge of the projection.
"That," James said, tapping the red dot with a forefinger, "is our target. The artifact will pinpoint their exact location, no matter how deep they hide." He looked up, his gaze sweeping over his comrades, sharing the rare, fragile moment of triumph. "We can track them, and we can finally hit them where it hurts."
A stunned silence gave way to an explosion of excited chatter. Through the noise, Jai's voice, sharp and laced with suspicion, cut through.
"Hey, Clement," Jai questioned, leaning forward, his eyes narrowed as he examined the dark artifact. "Where did you get this? This kind of tech is restricted. It looks... ancient."
James picked up the stone, turning it over in his hand, a small, guarded smile playing on his lips.
"Our mother gave it to me," he replied, his tone suddenly softer, almost nostalgic. "Said I should have something to look out for myself, back when I... left alone in the house when you also leave me for work ."
Jai watched him carefully. He watched the way James's eyes didn't quite meet his, the slight stiffness in his shoulders, the overly practiced casualness of his hands. Jai knew the true story of James's departure from his family home—it had been a planned extraction, not a wandering runaway.
Mom gave it to me when I was leave alone in home.
The phrase hung in the air, too neat, too perfectly innocent.
A realization, cold and certain, dawned on Jai. The artifact wasn't a sentimental gift for an adult son venturing out on his own. It was a sophisticated, high-end tracking beacon. The sort of thing protective, powerful parents would give a wayward, but important, heir.
James hadn't been gifted a memento. He had been equipped with a failsafe.
Jai understood then. The 'mother's parting gift' story was a thin shield, spun to cover the fact that his parents—both noble figures in human kingdom—had engineered a way to track him if he ever truly disappeared. And now, James was using that very technology, originally meant to monitor his movements, to hunt down Zeron.
A wry smirk touched Jai's lips. James(Clement), always playing the lone wolf, but forever tethered by the threads of his family's high-tech concern. The story was a lie, and yet, the artifact was real. And it was their best chance.
"Right," Jai murmured, giving a curt nod, his gaze locking back onto the crimson flicker on the screen. "Well, bless her heart, Clement. Looks like our mom just saved us all a lot of trouble."
"The intelligence is clear," James stated, pointing to a map of the Dwarf Kingdom. "Zeron's advance unit, which includes the Tier 5 Masters he's recruiting and the common guards that i place the artifact is moving through the Southern Marshes to flank the Repository. That area is flat, desolate, and heavily choked with fog and water—perfect for a surprise attack."
Zayn, his resolve returning, added: "The marshes are full of Tier 7 swamp creatures, too. We use the creatures as cover. Brokk, your expertise in the local terrain and your Void Magic are essential for planting traps."
"Our mission is simple," Jai finalized. "Assassinate Zeron. We cannot allow a Tier 3 master support with Tier 5 elemental masters to survive. We leave immediately."
The four heroes entered the Southern Marshes, a desolate expanse of stagnant water, choking fog, and treacherous muck. The air was thick with the humid, sulfurous stench of decaying vegetation.
Zayn took the lead, his Ice Magic coating the surface of the mud and water in localized, temporary sheets of slick ice, creating a path stable enough for them to traverse quickly. Brokk, his senses heightened, scanned the dim landscape, his Void Magic prepared to detect any subtle energy ripples left by the Shadow Ledger's advance guard.
"The intelligence was accurate," Brokk whispered, pointing to a half-submerged rock. "Tier 9 Dark energy residue. Zeron's unit passed here less than an hour ago. They are moving fast."
James used his Air Magic to create a focused vacuum around their immediate party, clearing the localized fog to maintain visibility, but leaving the thick cover intact everywhere else. "The marsh creatures are numerous," he warned. "Tier 7 Sludge Beasts and Tier 8 Toxic Frogs. They'll know we're here soon."
As anticipated, the heavy footsteps alerted the marsh dwellers. Three massive, bile-green Tier 8 Sludge Beasts rose from the murky water, their bodies composed of corrosive mud and aggressive elemental energy.
"Ignore the beasts!" Zayn commanded. "They're just noise. Keep moving toward the center!"
However, the noise wasn't just organic. Brokk's hand shot out. "Void Barrier!" A shimmering, temporary black shield materialized just in time to deflect three incoming Tier 8 Dark-aligned shadow bolts that had been cloaked in the fog.
"Ambush!" James roared.
A group of twenty Tier 9 Shadow Assassins materialized from the fog, flanking the group. They were faster than the ones encountered in Linston, clearly drawn from Zeron's elite, hand-picked forces.
"Jai, James! Clear the flanks! Brokk, with me!" Zayn commanded.
Jai reacted instantly. He raised his hand, channeling the energy of his newly refined Tide Weaver. A massive arc of water erupted from the marsh, forming three colossal, spinning Water Drills that shot toward the assassins. The water, channeled through his Tier 7 refinement, struck with the force of high-caliber bullets, piercing the assassins' defenses and dissolving their ranks.
James, meanwhile, activated the Tornado Breaker. He didn't summon a full storm; instead, he compressed the ambient marsh air into tight, high-speed Tornado Spikes. These invisible spikes sliced through the ranks of the remaining assassins, creating a bloody path toward the center of the marsh.
Zayn and Brokk surged forward through the devastation. They reached a small, slightly elevated clearing where the air was unnaturally still. Standing there, inspecting a map, was Zeron. He was flanked by two powerful figures: a Tier 7 Ice Master and a Tier 7 Dark Master.
Zeron looked up, his face devoid of surprise, his blue eyes locking directly onto his younger brother, Zayn.
"I knew you'd come, little brother," Zeron said, his voice calm and chilling. "I left the perfect trail for you."
Zayn, seeing the brother he mourned now leading the Shadow Ledger forces, felt the burning knot of anger and grief tighten in his chest. "You are an abomination, Zeron! You are a mockery of the Dwarf Crown!"
"I am the true Crown," Zeron corrected, lifting his hand. Even at Tier 3, his power flowed with an impossible grace. "And I am here to end your pathetic reign."
He didn't need to fight. He simply unleashed his passive spiritual pressure, increasing the intensity tenfold. The ground around the princes cracked, and the air turned solid, pressing down on the Tier 7 and Tier 8 Masters like a physical weight.
"Brokk, now!" Jai yelled, sensing the imminent, world-shattering surge.
Brokk slammed his staff down, channeling the deepest parts of his Tier 6 core. "Tier 6 Void Containment!" A localized, intensely dense bubble of Void Magic erupted around Zeron and his two lieutenants, designed to isolate Zeron's terrifying pressure wave and trap him for the assassination.
Zeron merely smiled, entirely unmoved by the Tier 6 containment bubble. "Too late, Minister."
The moment the Void bubble sealed, Zeron channeled his energy. The bubble did not break or fail; it was instantly compressed into a tiny, dense point of energy by Zeron's incomprehensible Tier 3 force, and then it was flung miles away, leaving Zeron and his lieutenants completely free and unharmed.
The entire group of heroes stared, realization dawning: Zeron wasn't just strong; his power defied known elemental laws.
The assassination attempt has failed, and the heroes are now trapped with a Tier 3 enemy who can casually manipulate Tier 6 spells.
The tier 5 people that zeron recurit surrounded them.
It was Jai who finally connected the impossible dots. He didn't shout or draw a weapon; he simply stood rigid, his mind working backward from the horrifying conclusion. He looked from the massed fleet to James's small, powerful tracker.
His lips barely moved as he articulated the sudden, devastating truth.
"It's not our trap," Jai stated, his voice hollow, the words intended only for James.
The color drained from James's face as he turned to meet Jai's accusing gaze.
"The tracking device," Jai continued, the words now edged with grim certainty. "It wasn't a secret weapon. It was a lure. They didn't fail to notice it; they let the artifact be planted. They let us track it, confirming we took the bait."
Jai glanced at the cold, implacable ships surrounding them, the Tier 5 operatives waiting for the breach order.
"We didn't trap Zeron," Jai finished, the crushing weight of their folly settling on his shoulders. "Zeron trapped us."